Promise Me
by Oujo ha Rippa
Summary: 'A promise is a promise - and promises are made to be kept. No matter the consequences.' Neither of them expected a simple promise made as kids would lead to what it will. G27. 7227. Various others.
1. Prologue: The Promise

**I owe this to you, my twin. For if I am to write anything – I will start with the plot that allowed me to expend my creativity above and beyond.**

**Happy (few days late) birthday, dear Kuma, SilentSnowDreamer. For this time, four years ago, this is where our journey began. **

**To think when this began – the idea that started them all – we were only thirteen and fourteen. Now here we are, I doing a Creative Writing degree and you in your senior year.**

**Here's to you my twin – I won't let you down.**

**Summary – **A promise is a promise – and promises are made to be kept. No matter the consequences. G27. 7227. Various other pairings.

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_Prologue: The Promise_

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It's hard to pinpoint where it all began.

When it's hard to pinpoint where something begins, they say to start from the ending. Yet, what do we do when there is no ending we can pinpoint?

There are many places and ways we can begin. There are many ways the same story is told and where we begin will change the course of the story completely. Where we begin, will affect how this story will end – but how it ends, ultimately affects how it begins.

A promise is a funny thing. From making spineless promises to parents to do your homework later tonight, to reciting the vows of marriage before the man or woman you love on your wedding day. From a pinkie swear to a blood oath, your spoken word to a written contract – a promise comes in many forms. We promise this, we promise that, and eventually, the meaning of a promise loses the weight it once carried.

We live in a world filled with empty promises.

So when two five year old boys make a nonsensical promise to one another at a play date in the park, it's only natural to assume their promise too, is empty.

Well, I guess we found the start of our story after all.

I write the prologue to this story like this, for it is a way to show you that a story – especially this one in particular – is no written. A story such as this one does not have a beginning or end. It's a story still in the process of being told.

And so here we start. At the catalyst of it all – the 'pinpoint' of where it all began.

However, by the end of the story, I'll challenge you to reconsider this as the start of this one story in particular.

In the not so faraway distance, just over there on the benches next to the newly painted red swings, are sat two rather gorgeous and beautiful young women. One is an exotic visual beauty to the current country she was in – Japan – with naturally golden blonde locks that brushed passed her shoulders and swept down to her middle back. Not a single strand fell out of place – out of sync – with the others. Her large eyes were a deep sea blue colour. An ocean in themselves, if you would, and they glistened in the afternoon light, much like the sea

The woman next to her was a much more simple beauty. Her chocolate brown hair barely scraped at her shoulders, whilst her matching chocolate coloured eyes managed to push through her run-of-the-mill appearance – not only outshining the other lady's blue eyes – but they were expressive.

Both women, by chance that day, had decided to meet up with one another for idle chitchat one last time before the blonde had to return to her home in Palmero, Sicily.

By chance, both women were stuck with their sons for the entire day – one of their father's out on official business, concerning unimportant matters we needn't worry about for now; whilst the other was currently taking a second son to his martial arts training that night.

By chance it just so happened that the younger son of the dark haired woman, Tsuna Sawada, was not a sporty child, and did not relish in joining his twin brother, Tsunayoshi Sawada, in practicing martial arts.

By chance, the son of the blonde woman, Giotto Vongola, decided he did not want to stay in their family's home here in Japan on their final day in Japan, and begged and pleaded his mother to take him along with her when she went to meet her friend.

By chance – or was it by the will of fate this was to happen?

Two separated and different worlds coming together, unbeknownst to what was to come from the catalytic moment. Unaware of what they have set in motion, what ball they've just started rolling, because by chance – fate decided today would be the start of it all.

Or perhaps fate decided it would be by chance this would happen.

o0o0o

"I'm sorry I was late – our chauffeur had trouble finding this location on his map. Is the park new?" the woman, Elianna Vongola, said to the brunette after she had sat down.

"Ah, it's not a problem. They only finished renovating this park a couple of months ago. It's not something they need to update a map for," the brunette, Nana Sawada, replied with a smile.

"So we realized. I had to bring my son, Giotto, along with me. It's not a problem, is it?" Elianna asked, raising one of her perfectly plucked and angled eyebrows.

"Not at all!" Nana said whilst clasping her hands together somewhat, "One of my sons is with my husband at his karate lessons, so I brought my youngest, Tsuna, with me."

Elianna's eyes glanced towards the young boy sitting on the next bench over from then, staring idly into space.

"How fortunate," Elianna said with a smile, looking back towards her son, Giotto, "Giotto, giocare con il bambino."

"Yes ma!" Giotto said with a grin on his face, immediately walking over towards Tsuna.

As the two young women engaged in chatter once more, Giotto got up and made his way towards the side of the bench where Tsuna was sat. Without saying a word to the brunette child, Giotto pulled himself onto the bench next to Tsuna and began trying to scuff the tips of his toes against the dirt of the playground.

"Hi!" Giotto said whilst clutching the edges of the seat. He leant forward slightly and tilted his head to look at Tsuna with sky blue eyes and a million dollar (or yen in this case) grin on his lips, "I'm Giotto."

Startled, and albeit taken aback, Tsuna looked over at Giotto, unsure what to say and how to react to the sudden appearance of this boy.

"I…um…h-hello…" Tsuna replied back in a mere whisper, beginning to fiddle with his thumbs.

"Huh? I can't hear you. What's your name?"

"Um…S…Sawada Tsuna…" Tsuna said, a little louder this time, but with still quite a fragile voice.

"Which one's your _real_ name? Japanese people say their names weird. Just say 'hi, I'm' and then your name! It's easy," Giotto said, almost with a sense of superiority in his voice.

"…well…um…my name is Tsuna…" Tsuna replied, looking up at Giotto afterwards this time.

"Cool! How old are you?" Giotto scooted a little closer to Tsuna, the grin on his face growing.

"I'm…um…" Tsuna quickly counted to five in his head before holding up four fingers, a faint smile coming onto his lips, "I'm five!"

Giotto stared at Tsuna for a moment, his grin slowly fading into that of a confused look. Glancing from the four fingers, and then looking back at Tsuna who had just said he was five, he was utterly lost as to how old the boy really was.

"But you're holding up four fingers, so you can't be five! Unless you're a liar," Giotto proclaimed.

"E-eh?" Tsuna said. He looked at the four fingers he was holding up. His face flushed red with embarrassment for being called out on his shortcomings with mathematics and struggling to (still) be able to count to ten, "It is?"

"Yeah, if you hold out your thumb then there are five! Or are you four?" Giotto asked, almost curiously.

"No! No I— I'm five! See…?" Tsuna claimed, holding up five fingers this time to Giotto's face.

"Well, I'm five too. So high five!" Giotto said whilst laughing, slapping his own palm to Tsuna's palm – indeed giving the other a rather loud and powerful high five.

Tsuna stared in awe at the rather obnoxiously rambunctious boy sitting next to him whilst gripping his currently stinging hand – suffering the after effects of quite a powerful high five. None of the kids at school were like Giotto. Sure the class bullies were annoying and rude and mean (but his brother Tsunayoshi managed to fend them off), but not in the…surprisingly repulsive but pleasant way Giotto was.

It was quite indeed, very odd.

Within seconds, Tsuna snapped out of thought to see Giotto's face right up in his own, staring quite intensely at his face.

"I…um…can I…help you…?" Tsuna asked, shifting back a bit on the bench.

"You look like a cute girl! Did you know that? Do all Japanese boys look like that? That'd be cool if they did! Or are you special?"

Tsuna wasn't sure if he was meant to be offended or complimented.

I mean, it _sounded_ like a good thing, but he wasn't a girl. Girls had round faces and soft cheeks with long hair and they smelt funny. Like rice cakes.

Giotto wasn't trying to say Tsuna looked soft and round and smelt like rice cakes, right?

"I-I'm a guy…! Not a girl…" Tsuna protested meekly whilst folding his arms.

"Yeah, yeah I _know_, but you look like a girl! You got big eyes and soft skin. Does everyone look like you?" Giotto asked again, scooting towards Tsuna again on the bench.

"Well…not really…" Tsuna said whilst frowning, "Does…um…everyone look like you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Giotto asked, puzzled by Tsuna's question.

"I…I dunno…you asked so I thought…maybe I should ask…" Tsuna trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, I think you're cute! Like a girl, but! You don't have cooties like girls too, because you're a guy. So when I'm older, I'm gonna marry you!" Giotto said proudly, standing up from the bench.

"M-marry me!?" Tsuna squeaked, quickly raising to his feet too.

Giotto simply nodded, "I've decided. You look cute and you're shy and all the girls in Sicily are loud and annoying and you'll do just fine!"

Tsuna couldn't imagine _why_ Giotto found those girls annoying.

"So! It's a promise then. When I—"

Tsuna quickly interrupted Giotto, "U-um…couldn't we promise to…ah…just…stay friends…? I…well…I've never had a friend…"

Giotto stared at Tsuna for a few moments, trying to grasp that. Every kid had friends, didn't they? So how come Tsuna was without them?

The thought was preposterous. If this boy would not accept his hand in marriage, then being his friend would be something Giotto would not take no for an answer for.

"From this day on – I declare you, Tsuna, as my friend for life! And when I come back from Sicily, we'll be real friends forever!" Giotto declared, grinning at Tsuna.

"You're leaving…?" Tsuna asked sadly, trying to hide his disappointment.

"Well I don't want to _now_! But I have to. My pa said so. But I'll be back! And I promise we'll always be friends – especially when I return!" Giotto said, holding out his pinkie finger, the million dollar grin returning to his face.

Tsuna nodded, reaching out with his own finger and linked it with Giotto's, "Yubikitta!"

"Eh? Yubikitta?" Giotto said whilst their fingers were still intertwined.

"It's…um…what you say when you make a promise here…s-sorry…" Tsuna stammered, attempting to pull his hand away.

Giotto shook his head, keeping their hands joint, "No – I wanna say it too, so it's official. Yubi…uh…Yubikitta!"

Tsuna just simply smiled.

o0o0o

Words exchanged between kids are forgotten over the passing years, as is to be expected. But even when our minds forget the words and bonds we once made, the heart will always remember.

Twelve years have passed since that fateful day when the promise was made. Twelve long years where separate lives and separate worlds have played out alongside one another – without even paying much attention to the other world's existence.

I pose the same question. Was it fate, or was it chance?

Did fate truly decide that day that this friendship would suddenly bloom out of nowhere in order to set in motion what was to come twelve years from then?

Or was it perhaps by chance that these two, unknowing young boys set in motion a spiral of events that have been waiting to surface for years – and once they do – there is no stopping them.

Whether it was fate that brought them together, or chance meeting that happened under circumstance – the outcome is still the same.

Neither of them realized what a heavy weight that promise holds that now cements their lives together for good. Neither of them have begun to realize what – by this chance or fateful encounter – will come of their promise now, twelve years in the future.

And in their story, they're going to learn something.

A promise is a promise – and promises are made to be kept. No matter the consequences.

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**Stay tuned for chapter two, dearies.**


	2. Chapter 01: The Odd Art of Comfort

_Chapter 01: The Odd Art of Comfort_

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Tsuna Sawada was many things.

Punctual was not one of them.

"We're gonna be late if you don't hurry Tsuna~!" Tsuna heard his older twin brother Tsunayoshi call out from the bottom of the stairs.

This had become routine – and Tsuna had no excuse for it. The alarm clock his mother had gotten him was long forgotten a week after it was purchased at the start of his high school career. Granted, it managed to work for the first week after its purchase, but Tsuna's mind – and thus then his ears – managed to numb out the senseless racket of the alarm, so he was able to sleep through the obnoxiously loud noise of it penetrating his sleep.

The result? Tsuna managed to fall back into old habits quite quickly.

His brother, Tsunayoshi, found this ordeal particularly amusing. He made no attempt to ever wake Tsuna up from his slumber when the morning came and school called. It was sadistic really, when you thought about it long enough. How Tsunayoshi revelled in letting Tsuna sleep until they only had moments to spare.

After all, it _was_ routine.

It had been routine for as long as Tsuna could remember. Tsunayoshi was always the morning person, able to get out of his warm bed in the mornings. Whilst on the other hand, Tsuna would be incredibly grateful if he could stay tucked up in his bed until early afternoon and then pull himself out of bed just in time for some late lunch.

When you thought about it, the reasoning behind Tsuna's habit of sleeping in late was pretty sad. He didn't have anything to wake up to, really.

Yeah, pretty damn sad, right?

However, it was the truth. Tsuna didn't get good grades, so attending school was not something that he could use as a method for escape. He couldn't pour the extra focus and energy he had into trying to better perfect grades and to ace more tests.

In fact Tsuna detested school. He was bad at pretty much everything, and struggled to maintain even a D-. It was a matter of time before the school started to hold him back a year, and then eventually kick him out altogether.

But I digress.

Tsuna had no friends either. Sure, I know what you're thinking; even the most unpopular people at school have at least _one_ friend.

Well, Tsuna was an exception to that rule.

Such was his life, succeeding in the worst possible areas that others would fail.

Alas, he had no friends. Not a single one, not even the teachers liked him, not even the kindergarteners liked him. All Tsuna had was his brother, Tsunayoshi, and he knew Tsunayoshi was starting to get fed up with following Tsuna around like some under paid bodyguard of a Z-list celebrity.

Tsuna had no out of school hobbies, no plans he made, nothing to really _do_ with his life. His life, it seemed, was bound to being one thing and one thing only.

The same boring old routine that chained him to a life with time restraints he could not manage and deadlines he could not juggle. But even when that was all that made up Tsuna's life, he was still unable to manage to do well at it.

Tsuna was not – and really never would be – cut out for the day to day life of a student.

Tsuna was not cut out for day to day life _period_.

Heeding his brother's taunting calls – his feet moved at remarkable speed. From being undressed and standing in his bedroom one minute, to then being in the bathroom fully dressed and toothbrush in his mouth the next.

I guess that in itself was something remarkable to be proud of.

Through the trial and error of his inability to get up in the mornings, Tsuna had mastered the art of being able to get ready within record breaking time.

However, it wasn't helping that his mother and father were currently away on vacation for two weeks.

Why?

Well this left Tsunayoshi in charge, that's why. He was the oldest (and let's face it, the most capable to run a household out of the two). Tsunayoshi was in charge of waking Tsuna up, cooking him breakfast, making sure he did his homework, showered regularly, and the list just goes on. Trust me on that – their mother, Nana, had made one for Tsunayoshi before she left.

Yet Tsunayoshi was too busy acting like your typical sixteen year old teenage boy to really take on those extra responsibilities. In his eyes, Tsuna needed to learn how to grow up and learn how to look after himself.

Expect for when it came to cooking.

Tsunayoshi would _not_ let Tsuna touch any cooking appliances with a bargepole.

It was _not _safe to let Tsuna go anywhere near an oven. Period.

"Tsuna come _on_!" Tsunayoshi called out, a little more impatiently this time. Honestly, what took Tsuna so long anyway? Then again, he wasn't exactly the most patient person in the world either.

Moments later, Tsuna appeared at the top of the household stairs. His school shirt was buttoned up in an odd manner, with his collar propped up tie hanging loosely around his thin neck. Tsuna had little time to style his hair, with Tsunayoshi calling out to him every half a minute, so today he was stuck with his bed hair. Spiked up in weird places and overall, out of place and messy. The kind of hair he'd walk around with when he was about four or five years old.

As he trudged down the stairs towards his brother, Tsuna began to tuck in his shirt and do up his belt buckle. He was convinced he was sleepwalking right now, there was no way he was properly awake enough for this yet.

"Finally, what took you so long?" Tsunayoshi asked as he swung his bag over his shoulder whilst walking towards the front door, "And don't panic Tsuna, we still have an hour to get to school and class on time."

"E-eh!? You woke me up and rushed me early? I…I could've had extra sleep—" Tsuna began to say, stuttering his words.

Tsunayoshi rolled his eyes, "And risk being late _again_? Surprise everyone and be early for once or something. You're up now, so deal with it."

_He has a point_, Tsuna thought to himself before mentally sighing.

That was just it though. Tsunayoshi _always_ had a point. Tsunayoshi was _always_ right. It'd be stupid of him to argue back or make any sort of protests. He'd simply just be met with a witty retort or smart remark that'd put Tsunayoshi further into the right.

That's just how the world worked.

Tsuna often like to ponder on where exactly his genes had gone wrong. Perhaps he reacted quite bitterly when he thought of himself in comparison to his brother. After all, they were polar opposites, and it'd be quite unfair to compare them so.

Yet, they _were_ twins, so people did so anyway.

The superiority Tsunayoshi had over Tsuna had gotten to a point where even when Tsuna was _sure_ he was in the right – he was forced into being agreeable with his brother. It was beyond humiliating, but Tsuna had no backbone to make a stand against it. Whereas most twins were often viewed as equals an attempted to best one another in friendly sibling rivalry, Tsuna was certain no one viewed he and Tsunayoshi as equals. Anything _but,_ probably.

"Besides, you don't want Hibari to threaten to beat the shit out of you again. He might do it this time. Unless you're into that sort of thing Tsuna," Tsunayoshi said as he looked over at his brother with a sly grin. His hand was currently placed almost elegantly on the door handle, eagerly awaiting his brother's response before he went to open the door.

Tsuna must've choked on a thousand and twenty two air particles after hearing his brother suggest such a thing.

He was _not_ – in any way shape or form – hoping for Hibari to beat him to pulp. Nor did Tsuna desire to get pleasure from it. Seriously, who would get pleasure from being beaten half to death with a pair of batons? Tsuna certainly wouldn't.

There was only one person in Tsuna's life that held his heart – and it wasn't even a guy. Kyoko Sasagawa was the furthest thing from guy.

She was smart, funny, charming, attentive, caring…the list went on. An incredible, yet simple beauty inside and out. It was hard to _not_ be attractive to her – and Tsuna was pretty sure the entire male population of Namimori High felt the same way. Beautiful, wonderful, unattainable Kyoko Sasagawa.

And she was dating Tsunayoshi.

Yeah, life sucks.

It was a big blow to his confidence when Tsunayoshi told Tsuna he started dating Kyoko the previous year. He'd never told Tsunayoshi about his crush on Kyoko – but then again Tsunayoshi had never said anything about liking her to Tsuna either. It happened suddenly, out of the blue, and Tsuna had rarely heard the end of it ever since.

Apparently it happened at his brother's_ other_ birthday party. One where he actually had friends to invite to.

Sure, he was happy for his brother, but he was jealous. That was a given. His brother was dating the most beautiful girl at Namimori High and Tsuna was left with pretty much nothing.

On top of the big pile of nothing he already had anyway.

The biggest blow? He and Tsunayoshi were identical, save for their eyes. Tsuna had chocolate brown eyes whilst Tsunayoshi had amber ones. And unless Kyoko was against brown eyes, she choosing Tsunayoshi over him meant even in personality – his brother was better.

Though despite his brother bettering him in pretty much _everything_ and getting absolutely everything he could ever want – it was common knowledge Tsuna was the nicer twin. A pushover, yes, but definitely nicer tha his brother.

But you know what they say; nice guys finish last.

"I'm not interested in Hibari-san like that Tsunayoshi…" Tsuna mumbled whilst pulling his school bag properly onto his shoulders.

"I was teasing Tsuna, jeez, lighten up will you?" Tsunayoshi rolled his eyes once again. He pushed open their front door and waiting for Tsuna to exit before locking the door behind them. Tsuna waited as eagerly as he could for his brother whilst remaining completely passive at the same time.

Once they began walking, they walked mainly in silence. A few times Tsunayoshi would wave at a couple of acquaintances who were also on their way into school, but stuck by Tsuna nonetheless.

It was times like this Tsuna especially felt like a burden to his brother.

Since Tsuna had no friend's other than Tsunayoshi – Tsuna would often have to hang onto the ends of Tsunayoshi's group of friends. Tsuna didn't particularly like them, and they _really_ didn't like Tsuna. The only reason Tsuna did it was because Tsunayoshi was insistent on combining his family duties with his friendships.

It just wasn't really working out – and Tsunayoshi often found himself torn to being a good brother to Tsuna and giving into the peer pressure of ditching Tsuna entirely.

Honestly? Tsuna was counting down the days until Tsunayoshi just went ahead and hurried up with ditching him completely.

"Hey, Tsuna, we're almost at school, I'm gonna head on and catch up with the guys okay?" Tsunayoshi said whilst ruffling Tsuna's hair.

Tsuna forced a smile, "Alright…I'll see you after school…?"

"Can't, going out on a double date with Kyoko," Tsunayoshi grinned, giving Tsuna a small wink.

"O-oh, um, well…tell Sasagawa-san I said hi…" Tsuna said, lost for what exactly he was meant to say to that.

"Sure thing. Catch you later Tsuna~" Tsunayoshi said before turning his back on Tsuna and running to catch up with some of his friends.

As soon as Tsunayoshi's back was turned, Tsuna let out a dejected sigh, his shoulders slumping over as his posture completely dropped. This is exactly what Tsuna meant when he said he was counting down until he was ditched completely. His brother might as well have just taken a knife and stabbed him right in the chest or something – because that's how it felt when he did this to him.

It couldn't be helped, Tsuna guessed.

"Um, excuse me?"

Tsuna started a little at the sound of a voice coming from right behind him.

He hadn't heard any footsteps, nor seen anyone coming towards him. The voice, from what his poor memory could tell, didn't sound native either, but foreign. He couldn't place _what_ sort of accent it was, but he was certain it wasn't a Japanese one.

Curiosity – and manners – got the better of him, and so Tsuna spun around to face the mysterious voice.

Tsuna was met with a pair of narrow, but warm sky blue eyes looking down upon him. The kind of warmth you'd see on a bright, warm summer's day when the skies were clear and the humidity was almost unbearable. It was an odd thing to first notice about someone, as Tsuna very rarely paid attention to most people; everyone just seemed to blend in together for Tsuna. But there was something about this guy's piercing gaze that struck him at first glance.

He honestly had no idea. Not a single one.

The next thing Tsuna noticed was…well, two things actually. The startling height of the other male, and the colour of his hair. This guy had be at least six foot – a height that Tsuna did not see often in Namimori. Even most gang members and hooligans didn't come close to the height of this guy. His hair too – was something Tsuna had no seen in person as something natural before. It was a pale blonde, with a twinge of honey and golden etched through it at places, giving his hair a natural bit of extra presence.

Most people he had seen in person with blonde hair were people who dyed it that colour – and badly at that. They never reached the natural level nor calibre of the kind of blonde hair this guy had. The way it stood out in the bleakness of mid-autumn, the way it fell and shaped his face so perfectly…it was as though he had just stepped out from a movie or magazine that had been edited to perfection – and came to life.

At first, Tsuna felt himself lost for words. He'd never really seen someone – let alone a guy at that – look so aesthetically pleasing before. He had to have been talking to someone else, surely.

Glancing around and over his shoulders to ensure there was no one else around, Tsuna mentally confirmed this guy _had_ to be talking to him (for some bizarre reason).

"Are you…talking to me?" Tsuna asked meekly. He found himself clutching the loose straps of his school backpack tightly in order to give himself something else to focus on.

God he felt like such a sexually repressed middle school girl or something.

"Sorry to startle you. I just wanted to make sure I'm heading in the right direction towards Namimori High School?" the taller male asked as his lips pursed into something of a half-smile, "I noticed you were wearing the uniform, and thought to ask."

This guy was a high school student? Surely he couldn't be. He looked older than most high school students – and the vibe he gave off said that too. But was he old enough to be out of college? No, that was definitely unlikely.

"Oh, yeah it's this way. Um…are you a substitute teacher then…?" Tsuna mumbled.

Wow, what a smart question to ask someone who doesn't even look like they've graduated from college, dumbass.

The taller male looked bewildered at the question Tsuna posed, however the look in his eyes gave away that he was – indeed – amused by it nonetheless.

"Do I look that old?" the other asked. He didn't seem offended – more curious as to how he managed to look old enough to be a substitute teacher, "But no, I'm a transfer student. Some complications back at home meant I couldn't start until now. I'm still trying to find my way."

"O-oh! Right— um, well…this is the way…I…I can show you so you don't get…lost…?" the further Tsuna got into his reply, the more unsure he became with it.

Was it okay to offer to show the new guy to Namimori High? He didn't want to tarnish this guy's possibility of making new friends just because he was seen walking with him. After all, everyone else steered clear of him – even his own _brother_ steered clear of him, so it was probably best – for this guy's sake – he did too.

"That'd be nice," the boy smiled as he extended his hand towards Tsuna, "My name's Giotto, Giotto Vongola."

Tsuna was surprised. Nevertheless, Giotto had yet to hear any of the reasons why he should stay clear of Tsuna – so it was just a matter of time.

"I'm…um…my name's Sawada Tsuna," Tsuna said timidly, extending his hand to take Giotto's own. Upon taking Giotto's soft hand into his own, he was met with a rather firm and strong grip holding his hand to Giotto's own. A little too tightly at that.

Giotto nodded, keeping his firm grip on Tsuna's hand, "I keep forgetting – I say my surname before my given name, right? Should I address you as Sawada-kun then?"

Tsuna nodded, "Yeah…that's fine."

Giotto finally pulled his hand away from the grip and returned it to his side. As he began to walk besides the smaller boy, he took note of him shaking his hand a little in order to get the feeling back to it. For some reason or another, he found that highly amusing. Perhaps he had been a little to firm with his grip.

"Shall we go, then?" Giotto asked, gesturing forward with his hand.

His slender fingers extended out into a shape and manner that seemed so flawless to Tsuna. So much so that if anyone even tried to recreate that gesture, they wouldn't be able to. Not to the level or not in the way that Giotto was able to do so.

Tsuna nodded, and averted his eyes away from Giotto's hand and towards he floor. He began to walk, not too hastily like he was used to, but at relaxed and slow pace to match Giotto's own.

"You don't talk much do you?" Giotto pointed out as they began walking.

"Well…I…I just…" Tsuna began to say as his shoulders tensed up. He slyly glanced up at Giotto out of the corner of his eye to check Giotto's reaction to his stuttering and stammering – and was met with the same piercing blue eyes – the ones that seemed to want to rip him apart for information.

"No it's fine, you don't have to explain yourself Tsuna— sorry, Sawada-kun," Giotto said, his gaze holding Tsuna's own before looking away, focusing on the direction ahead of them, "Do we take a right or left here?"

"Left," Tsuna automatically replied, having memorized the fastest route possible to the school, "And it's fine…um, I'm not offended or anything…" Tsuna quickly replied.

Giotto found himself wanting to chuckle. Out of everything Tsuna had said to him so far, the one thing he said with any amount of certainty was the word 'left'. How peculiar.

"So how old are you? Although, it'd be better to ask what grade you're in," Giotto said as he turned his gaze back towards the boy and watched him curiously. His sky blue eyes seemingly had some sort of mischievous glint to them.

"Well, I'm a junior. I'm sixteen but…I'm seventeen soon, my birthday…well…soon…" Tsuna said, glancing over at Giotto every so often during his reply. His birthday _was _soon, he just wasn't that used to talking about it or making a big deal about it.

In fact it was in couple of days – something Tsunayoshi never failed to remind him about each and every year. After all, they did share the same birthday. Tsunayoshi tended to get more excited about the whole birthday fiasco more than he did. After all, Tsunayoshi had something to celebrate and people to celebrate it with.

"Ah, so I'm older. Not by much. My birthday is New Year's Day, so we won't be in the same classes," Giotto noted, his shoulders shrugging, "That's fine."

"I-if you wanted we could hang out at lunch—!" Tsuna quickly said, not realizing that he had said it until after the words had left his mouth.

And once he realized they had, he wanted to rewind that passing moment, take the words he just said and shove them back into his mouth. Never had he experienced the feeling of wanting to eat his own words before – but if he could swallow what he just said whole, he would. Why on earth would Giotto, the new guy, want to spend his lunch hanging out with _him_ of all people? He was obviously going to meet new people, make some friends, gain attention for being a foreign transfer student; he was bound to find other people he'd rather spend his time with. Not to mention, Tsuna would kill Giotto's chance of _any_ female attention. The girls at Namimori seemed to have a thing for foreign guys (something Tsuna didn't quite get) and if he was seen eating lunch with Tsuna…

It wasn't helping having Giotto stare at him with a bewildered, unreadable look on his face. Before the blonde could even muster up a reply, Tsuna interjected and quickly cut him off.

"I-I mean, if you wanted to— you don't have to I…I'm sure you'll meet other people and—"

This time, Giotto cut Tsuna off.

"Tsu—sorry, Sawada-kun, you don't need to get worked up," Giotto sighed a little, a smile projecting through the said sigh however, "I'd like to eat lunch with you."

Tsuna let out a mental sigh of relief and his miniature breakdown ceased and came to a halt.

He thought he'd gone and embarrassed himself there.

"I would too! I-I mean with you—not me, I mean…!" Tsuna sighed, deciding to give up before he made a further fool of himself.

"I get it. Don't worry," Giotto said, patting Tsuna's shoulder gently.

There was something oddly strange and comforting about this conversation Tsuna couldn't quite put his finger on. Talking to Giotto, albeit as nerve wracking as it was; it was also strangely…relaxing. A paradox in and of itself Tsuna didn't quite get, but that's just how it was. Through stumbling over his words and trying to form coherent enough sentences to speak to Giotto with, he found himself both intimidated, yet at ease.

This feeling was going to be short lived however, Tsuna decided. Once Giotto heard the rumours and the like about how Tsuna was a good for nothing laze about, Giotto was sure to steer clear of him.

It was best to not get his hopes up that Giotto could, and would possibly become an actual friend.

And as if Giotto was some sort of magical mind reader, he broke through Tsuna's thoughts and asked the inevitable question, "Will your other friends be there too?"

What was Tsuna supposed to say to that?

_Oh I'm sorry Vongola-san, I don't happen to have friends. If you want to meet the me who has friends you might want to check in with my brother. He has plenty to go around._

Well, that would be one way to put it, if Tsuna could talk for long enough to put it like that. Oh, and if he wanted to sound like a bitter and jealous younger brother – there was that too,

"Actually I…well, I keep to myself…" That was another way to put it.

"Really? Though I'm hardly surprised, you don't seem the type. You're…nice though, and I don't meet many nice people often," Giotto said, his tone and expression turning serious for the briefest of moments. A couple of seconds after he finished speaking, his expression eased up and he rested his hand on the shorter boy's shoulder yet again, "I mean it."

_He's just being polite_, Tsuna thought to himself, instantly dumbing down the compliment he received.

"You're nice too," Tsuna said, giving Giotto an awkward smile.

"Thanks, I don't get told that often, but still more than I should," Giotto chuckled to himself, as though he just made a personal inside joke that only he could understand.

Tsuna himself didn't get what was so funny, but smiled anyway.

"Back home in Sicily, my old…well; I guess you could call him tutor. He was more like a mentor. He tells me I'm not nice enough – and coming from him…it's something to think about," he explained as they continued towards the school.

"Huh? Really?" Tsuna couldn't even begin to imagine how on earth this guy – Giotto – could be anything but nice. If he wasn't nice, then Tsuna dreaded to think what on earth the people he'd been associating with for his entire life were in comparison.

"You sound surprised," Giotto mused.

"…is it bad to be…?" Tsuna asked.

"No," Giotto stated simply, "Perhaps you're just an exception."

Before Tsuna could reply, they turned around the corner of the street they were on to come face to face with Namimori High. A tremendously tall building with a fine, beautiful exterior to it. It really was a vision of perfection. As perfect as a place that locks away the youth for hours on end in order to force feed them knowledge could be anyway.

"I take it this is it then, right?" Giotto asked as he looked from the school back at Tsuna, "I got to make a phone call, just to let my family know I've arrived here safely, so you can go on ahead. Here, give me your phone."

Tsuna took out his phone from his blazer pocket and handed it over to Giotto wordlessly.

After a couple of moments of fiddling around with Tsuna's phone, Giotto handed it back to the younger boy with yet another half-smile on his lips, "I've put my number in it. Just give me a text so I have yours. Let me know where you want to meet for lunch as well, alright?"

"S-sure!" Tsuna nodded in agreement to ensure his affirmation.

"I'll see you later then, Sawada-kun."

"U-un, see you later Vongola-san."

Giotto waited a few moments, watching as Tsuna faded into the sea of students gathered inside and outside Namimori High's gate Once Giotto was certain Tsuna was far out of sight and earshot, his expression fell from the approachable façade to a numbing and serious look. His half-smile fell into his usual unimpressed frown and he let out a heavy, audible sigh.

That had to be one of the most tedious things he ever had to do.

Reaching into his hidden blazer pocket, he took out a rather classy and expensive looking phone and unlocked the screen on it. Flicking through his contact, he stopped at the letter 'R' and clicked on the name 'REBORN'. Giotto held the phone away from him for a couple of moments, before placing it to his ear and letting it ring – a habit he couldn't break out of. Even when he was not the receiver of a call.

As the phone rang in his ear, he turned on his heel and walked back around the corner away from Namimori High. Upon turning the corner, he almost bumped into a group of three girls – probably freshmen or sophomores at the most, Giotto presumed. He flashed them a curt, yet apologetic smile, making eye contact with all three of them before continuing on his way. Behind him, he could hear the senseless babbling about how he was foreign, and therefore attractive.

If he wasn't in such a rush, Giotto might've found the notion amusing.

"Yo. What is it?" the groggy, hung over sounding voice from the other end demanded.

"Are you certain _this_ is the person we're looking for Reborn?" Giotto asked, his voice cold and almost threatening, "Or has Carlos simply just lost it already at fifty-five."

Carlos was Giotto's father. Giotto found it hard to believe he was related to such a vile and repugnant man – and so whenever he was not addressing the man directly, Giotto would seldom to call him father. He was sure even Carlos himself knew that, but even if he did, neither Giotto nor Carlos cared a great deal. Not enough that it was important, anyway.

"If this wasn't who we're looking for we wouldn't have spent so much fucking time tracking down this Tsunayoshi's schedule," the voice from the other end, Reborn, retorted just as coldly.

"His name's Tsuna, not Tsunayoshi," Giotto stated.

"So fucking what Giotto, kids shorten their names all the time. You've found him and that's the main thing."

Giotto sighed whilst rubbing his forehead. Reborn was surely going to turn him grey. Early. At seventeen.

Hopefully the grey look suited him.

Quickly checking his wristwatch for the current time, the blonde bit his lower lip before letting out another exasperated sigh, "I want some more information, this can't be right. There's no way this kid is who we're looking for—"

"Stop complaining Giotto. What more do you want, his life story? Carlos is not going to fly you back out until there's some concrete evidence. So far you have your assumptions," Reborn pointed out, cutting Giotto off mid-sentence.

"…" Silence was usually Giotto's genius way to respond to Reborn's witty remarks.

"Just stick with this until we can fly out in a couple of weeks."

"I don't have the patience for a couple of weeks. Send someone over sooner."

"When you ask me like that it makes me want to shove a gun down your throat and shoot live rounds down it."

"I don't care Reborn, I've been following him around for _days_ now and I'm going to lose it if I have to spend another day trying to be _nice_ to people," Giotto sighed, leaning up against a wall.

"So what, you want a babysitter? A therapist?" Reborn said with a hint of mockery in his voice.

"Don't," Giotto said, the tone of his voice becoming dangerously low and threatening, "Can't you ask Cozart to come and help me out?"

"I'm not sending Cozart over so you can both drink shots of whiskey and you can play the angsty sourpuss teenager while he comforts you. This is _important_ Giotto."

"And until I have someone here to help me out, I'm not reporting back anything else."

"…Fine. Have it your way. I'll have someone contact Cozart and ask him to come and babysit you."

"You shouldn't have," Giotto replied almost bitterly, there being no hint of humour or sarcasm in his voice, despite the intention.

There was no reply, only the sound of the deadline after Reborn hung up on him.

Giotto would be offended…that is, if he himself didn't often to the same thing to people. He and Reborn shared the inability to maintain patience with someone for extended periods of time. That usually meant resorting to other methods, such as cutting them off or hanging up on them, or walking out of the room they're in and demanding they leave.

Plus, he knew deep down Reborn was a gigantic softy. It was just incredibly deep down and rarely ever seen.

After putting his phone back into his school blazer, Giotto immediately felt it vibrate.

"If this is Reborn…" Giotto muttered to himself as he took his phone back out and flipped it open. However, his work phone – the one he called Reborn from – was silent and empty.

Giotto took out the phone he purchased for the sake of this task, and flipped it open. He was met with an unknown number and a rather pleasant message from who he could only imagine to be Tsuna. He quickly read over the text, making a mental note that Tsuna wanted to meet on the roof for lunch, added the boy in as a new contact and put his phone away – not bothering to reply

Strangely enough, with everything else he had going on in his life pushed aside, Giotto found some odd comfort in that text. Something about it was reassuringly comforting and Giotto would be lying if he said he didn't like that.

Odd, but nevertheless, it was enough for a flicker of a smile to appear on his usually stone cold lips.

* * *

**Have I mentioned I love writing this story? It flows so naturally. And I enjoy editing it too! Went from six pages to ten when I edited it this morning. Phew.**

**Anyway, feedback and reviews are appreciated. Sorry if this is starting out slow at all – things will begin to pick up in the later chapters.**

**A pleasant surprise, I'm sure, for those of you who thought I wouldn't be updating again for another year.**


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